Dear Next President.

There has been a lot of racial tension lately and it seems politicians want to fan the flames even more. The police are taking a lot of heat for accusations of brutality over the deaths of several armed and unarmed African Americans. These claims mostly consist of the assertion that police are too fast to pull the trigger when dealing with “non-white” suspects; pointing to examples like Michael Brown and Seville Smith, claiming that if these men were white they would not have been shot.

This claim, while pretty far-fetched, does have some truth. Police, specifically in the US, do tend to “jump the gun” in many cases. Police training only takes about 6 months and that is very short for this specific job, leading to confusion and forgetfulness of training over time. Quite a few of these shootings are done by inexperienced recruits without proper training. Another problem is the fact that not everyone is meant to be a cop, whether it be mental instability or general incompetence. The officer who shot Tamir Rice was found to be emotionally unstable. Yet, they still gave this man a gun and sent him on patrol. Being that incompetent in the police force cannot stand.

However, on the other side of the fence, there has been a massive increase in violence by groups claiming to be working for the people. A good example is the Milwaukee riot that happened on August 13, 2016. During the riot, while the local gas station was still on fire, CNN found one of the rioters who gave a small line about Communism. “The rich and the one percent have not helped the black community and we demand that change, we demand the police stop targeting black bodies at once.” Again, this being said with a burning gas station in the background. This sort of attitude has become more of a selling point for the Black Lives Matter group in the past few months. The anti-police narrative has evolved more into a Communistic and racist narrative. When I say 'racist,' I mean, “He’s white, beat his S***!” That line was given by one of the Milwaukee Rioters who filmed herself and several others targeting white motorists who were just passing by. Given time I imagine Milwaukee won’t be talked about because the man shot, Seville Smith was killed by a black officer, whilst Seville was carrying a gun he stole. 

So what is the solution to this problem? It seems like the only real solution is one that’s already been implemented in police departments all over the country. Body cameras appear to bring down the number of these shootings and when they do happen, the footage is brought to court. So, I guess what I and millions of other Americans would like to see, is a massive increase in the use of these cameras and for an end to these riots. Wisconsin is a good state to live in, we don’t need any more excitement like that.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_and_crime_in_the_United_States

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_academy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yPXtMRqE-0